The Rev. Jamal-Dominique Hopkins, an African-American expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in July. He accused ITC administrators of harassment that included "disagreeing with my conservative religious ideals, intimidating me, slandering my character, giving me poor evaluations, and changing student grades from failing to passing with no merit.''

Hopkins, 42, told Religion News Service that tensions arose after a speaker fromInterVarsity Christian Fellowshipaddressed an informal session he organized in February. During the session, attendees were offered a book that declared homosexuality was a sin.

He said his department chair, the Rev. Margaret Aymer, questioned the distribution of the book and threatened his job.

"It was primarily the book that created an issue," said Hopkins, a former associate professor of New Testament.

Christal Cherry, an associate vice president at ITC, said neither ITC President Ronald Peters nor Aymer were available for comment. However, she provided the school's Aug. 8 response to an inquiry by the American Association of University Professors.

"The reality is that the non-renewal of Dr. Hopkins' contract had nothing to do with academic freedom or any efforts to infringe thereon,'' Peters wrote. He added that Hopkins' claims are "disappointing remarks of a disgruntled former employee and are a misrepresentation of fact."

Hopkins provided RNS with grade sheets, with redacted student ...

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